Elizabeth Mandus Wukawa v Christine Gawi

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Citation: (2015) N6058
• Date: 17 August 2015
• Court: National Court
• Year: 2015

Full : OS NO 41 OF 2014; Elizabeth Mandus Wukawa v Christine Gawi (2015) N6058

National Court: Cannings J

Judgment Delivered: 17 August 2015

CONTEMPT—disobedience of court order—punishment—whether committal to prison or fine is appropriate—whether appropriate to suspend punishment.

The contemnor was found guilty after trial of contempt of court for disobeying an order of the National Court, dated 22 January 2014, requiring her, as chief executive officer of a public hospital, to reinstate the plaintiff (a dismissed officer) by 5 February 2014, and to pay the plaintiff’s lost salaries and entitlements by 5 March 2014. The contemnor disobeyed the order by not reinstating the plaintiff by 5 February. Her disobedience continued until 5 March 2014 when the Supreme Court stayed the order of 22 January 2014, pending determination of an appeal the contemnor had lodged against the order of 22 January 2014. The appeal was dismissed in October 2014 and immediately after that the contemnor complied with the order of 22 January 2014. A hearing was held to determine punishment.

Held:

(1) A useful starting point for punishment purposes is committal to prison for 12 months or a fine of K2,500.00 or both. The court should then consider punishment imposed in equivalent cases and the mitigating and aggravating factors to assess the form and extent of the appropriate punishment.

(2) There were a number of significant mitigating factors, in particular the contemnor’s exemplary record of public service, the short period of one month that she was in contempt, the speed with which she acted to comply with the National Court order once the Supreme Court appeal was dismissed and the stay order dissolved and the sincerity and completeness of the apology she made to the court and to the plaintiff.

(3) It was nevertheless an intrinsically serious offence, warranting committal to prison for a period of six weeks. It was not appropriate to also impose a fine. The punishment was not suspended.

Cases cited

The following cases are cited in the judgment:

Bank of South Pacific Ltd v Anton Sekum (2011) N4588

Damaru v Vaki OS No 484 of 2014, 03.07.15, unreported

Elias Padura v Stephanie Valikvi (2012) N4894

Elizabeth Mandus Wukawa v Christine Gawi (2015) N6024

Ian Augerea v David Tigavu (2010) N4188

John Rumet Kaputin v The State [1979] PNGLR 559

Kaidai v Nombri (2014) N5718

Newsat Ltd v Telikom PNG Ltd (2008) N3673

Peter Luga v Richard Sikani and The State (2002) N2286)

Sr Dianne Liriope v Dr Jethro Usurup (2009) N3931

Vaki v Baki; In re contempt of court charges against Kulunga (2014) N5612

Yap v Tan [1987] PNGLR 227

PUNISHMENT

17th August, 2015

1. CANNINGS J: The contemnor Christine Gawi has been convicted after trial of contempt of court and this is the decision on punishment. She was found guilty after trial of contempt of court for disobeying an order of the National Court, dated 22 January 2014, requiring her, as chief executive officer of Modilon General Hospital, to reinstate the plaintiff (a dismissed officer) by 5 February 2014, and to pay the plaintiff’s lost salaries and entitlements by 5 March 2014.

2. The order was made as a result of judicial review proceedings the contemnor commenced by way of a challenge to a decision of the Public Services Commission that the plaintiff be reinstated and paid lost salaries and entitlements. The challenge was unsuccessful so the Court on 22 January 2014 ordered that the decision of the Public Services Commission be enforced. The order stated:

The decision of the first defendant [the Public Services Commission] dated 14 August 2013 is binding and shall be complied with as soon as practicable, which means that the second defendant [Ms Wukawa] shall be reinstated by 5 February 2014 and be reimbursed her lost salaries and entitlements by 5 March 2014.

3. The contemnor disobeyed that order by not reinstating the plaintiff by 5 February 2014. Her disobedience continued until 5 March 2014 when the Supreme Court stayed the order pending determination of an appeal the contemnor had lodged against it. In finding the contemnor guilty, the Court found that she carelessly disregarded the order of 22 January 2014 by not taking steps to reinstate the plaintiff by 5 February 2014. She made a conscious decision not to reinstate the plaintiff while waiting for her application to the Supreme Court for a stay of the reinstatement order to be heard. Further details of the circumstances in which the offence was committed are in the judgment on verdict, Elizabeth Mandus Wukawa v Christine Gawi (2015) N6024.

ANTECEDENTS

4. The contemnor has no prior convictions.

ALLOCUTUS

5. The contemnor was given the opportunity to address the Court on the question of punishment. She stated:

I am truly sorry that I did not comply with the Court Orders. I have...